Slightly Dangerous by Mary Balogh
This is the last of Balogh’s Bedwyn books, and probably the best one. Though, err, it probably owes a chunk of that to apparently deliberately being modeled after Pride and Prejudice. Wulfric Bedwyn, the control freak head of the Bedwyn family, has been lured down to a house party against his better judgment. Christina Derrick, a local widow, is asked by her friend, who is the hostess, to complete the numbers.
Many of their conversations go something like this:
Wulfric: This woman is very annoying and talks a lot and why does she think I’m arrogant? And her poor wardrobe! Not only is it out of fashion, but she keeps climbing trees to rescue small childrens’ toys! And must she talk to every child she meets?
Christine: This poor man is so arrogant and standoffish! No wonder everyone is scared of him! I’d try to save him from the horde of 18-year-olds who want to be a duchess, but this could be entertaining. Also, I’m not sure he likes children.
This is probably the most entertaining of Balogh’s books I’ve read. The horde of Bedwyn offspring from previous books isn’t even annoying! Admittedly, they’re all young enough to still be genuinely cute and have not yet reached the age to be romance novel cloyingly cute children. And evil relatives are redeemed realistically!
There was one part at the end, though, that really annoyed me.
Specifically, the epilogue, in which Wulfric and Christine, inevitably, have a son. A strong plotline of the book was that Christine had had no pregnancies in her years of marriage. This was brought up in the context that it wasn’t likely she’d provide an heir if they married. Wulfric didn’t care, as he had three younger brothers who would no doubt eventually provide him with a horde of nephews. Christine never seemed particularly interested in being a mother or sad at her lack of children, and her only concern in that regard was that a Duke’s wife was supposed to give him an heir. She loves kids, but I never had the impression that she really wanted any of her own. She seemed perfectly happy loving on other people’s children, and then giving them back. (Not that I thought she didn’t want children, I just didn’t get the feeling that it mattered to her either way.) Similarly, Wulfric likes kids (though mostly, I think, the ones he’s related to) but made it clear that he didn’t have an interest in his own kids. I’m sure they’ll make wonderful parents, but with so much time spent on the idea of them not having kids, it feels very contrary and “You can’t have a happy ending without babies!” to give them a kid in the epilogue.
For those who have read Balogh: I have both the “Simply” books and the “Web” books. (And some others.) Opinions on which I should read next?
Many of their conversations go something like this:
Wulfric: This woman is very annoying and talks a lot and why does she think I’m arrogant? And her poor wardrobe! Not only is it out of fashion, but she keeps climbing trees to rescue small childrens’ toys! And must she talk to every child she meets?
Christine: This poor man is so arrogant and standoffish! No wonder everyone is scared of him! I’d try to save him from the horde of 18-year-olds who want to be a duchess, but this could be entertaining. Also, I’m not sure he likes children.
This is probably the most entertaining of Balogh’s books I’ve read. The horde of Bedwyn offspring from previous books isn’t even annoying! Admittedly, they’re all young enough to still be genuinely cute and have not yet reached the age to be romance novel cloyingly cute children. And evil relatives are redeemed realistically!
There was one part at the end, though, that really annoyed me.
Specifically, the epilogue, in which Wulfric and Christine, inevitably, have a son. A strong plotline of the book was that Christine had had no pregnancies in her years of marriage. This was brought up in the context that it wasn’t likely she’d provide an heir if they married. Wulfric didn’t care, as he had three younger brothers who would no doubt eventually provide him with a horde of nephews. Christine never seemed particularly interested in being a mother or sad at her lack of children, and her only concern in that regard was that a Duke’s wife was supposed to give him an heir. She loves kids, but I never had the impression that she really wanted any of her own. She seemed perfectly happy loving on other people’s children, and then giving them back. (Not that I thought she didn’t want children, I just didn’t get the feeling that it mattered to her either way.) Similarly, Wulfric likes kids (though mostly, I think, the ones he’s related to) but made it clear that he didn’t have an interest in his own kids. I’m sure they’ll make wonderful parents, but with so much time spent on the idea of them not having kids, it feels very contrary and “You can’t have a happy ending without babies!” to give them a kid in the epilogue.
For those who have read Balogh: I have both the “Simply” books and the “Web” books. (And some others.) Opinions on which I should read next?